Troy Watanabe was a month old when he made his debut at the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple.
Nearly 60 years later, he serves as president and minister’s assistant for the sangha, or congregation, that meets in the 1962 building located on the corner of 100 South and 200 West.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Salt Lake Buddhist Temple on 100 South in June 2024.
Through the years, Watanabe has watched development shave the city’s Japantown from about 10 blocks to one, anchored by the temple on one end and the Japanese Church of Christ on the other (among his earliest memories: playing along the chain-link fence that surrounded the construction of the neighboring Salt Palace, a particularly devastating blow for the community).
Even so, Watanabe said he feels “very cautious optimism” about the Smith Entertainment Group’s planned downtown Salt Lake City sports district, the proposed boundaries of which a Utah legislative panel approved earlier this month.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Maya Ikegami is seen offering oshoko, a gratitude ritual, as she adds incense to an incense burner at the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Portraits of former ministers, dating back to 1912, hang on the wall at the temple.
On the one hand, he worries about construction limiting access to the temple, feeling lost in the shadow of shiny new skyscrapers and no longer being allowed to shut down 100 South between 200 West and 300 West for Japanese festivals, as is currently done.
On the other hand, he hopes that his new neighbors will hold to their promise to help honor the neighborhood’s past with historical markers and Japanese architecture in the abutting construction. It also doesn’t hurt, he added, that many of the sangha’s members are Utah Jazz fans who regularly attend games at the nearby Delta Center, which will undergo major renovations if all goes forward.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
According to an SEG representative, the group has met “many” times with members of the Church of Christ and Buddhist temple and plans to keep the conversation going “throughout the duration of the project.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A woman hangs a message on a small torii during the 100-year anniversary celebration at the Japanese Church of Christ in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.
Watanabe is hardly alone in his ambivalence.
“Cautiously optimistic” came up twice more in interviews — once with sangha member Trey Imamura and again with the Japanese Church of Christ’s Elizabeth Ward — to describe the mood of the individuals and their faith communities as they brace for going from a neglected corner to a major downtown focus.
“I just hope [the faith communities] are heard,” said the Rev. Mirjam Haas-Melchior, executive presbyter for the Presbytery of Utah, of which the Church of Christ is affiliated. “I hope the institutions are treated like the places of worship and cultural centers they are, and given the same consideration as the Latter-day Saint Salt Lake Temple just down the street would be.”
Steel and stone
When Ward was 11 or so, the leaders of her church recruited her to play the piano during the music worship portion of Sunday services. Each time the girl from Bountiful did, the room would erupt into applause. Tradition frowned on such disruptions, but for the preteen with jangling nerves, it meant everything.
“It just really showed,” she recalled, “how close our community is.”
These days, the now-24-year-old Ward attends weekly services with her 91-year-old grandpa, the two of them worshipping with people Ward has known her whole life.
Between 40 and 50 churchgoers show up on any given Sunday, nearly all Japanese and many of them older, gathering to sing and pray in a two-story stone chapel that celebrates its 100th birthday this year.
More recently, other Christian congregations populated by ethnic minorities — the Tongan-American Free Wesleyan group and the Kachin Trinity Church — have begun to use the space for their own services.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Japanese Church of Christ is seen near the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ah Dan holds son Padang Zup during the 100-year anniversary celebration at the Church of Christ.
Even more than the Buddhist temple, the Church of Christ finds itself in the middle of all the pending excitement — at least during the first phase of the project — and may be flanked by glass and steel on all three sides (“like the house from the Disney movie ‘Up,’” Watanabe said).
Fortunately, SEG has promised not to touch the Japanese gardens next door, a feature that, Ward said, will help act as a “buffer” between the church’s east side and the future hustle and bustle of shops and restaurants.
Haas-Melchior fears the current assurances around Japantown could represent a similar effort by lawmakers and developers to “ease their conscience” without fully recognizing what was taken from the community starting in the 1960s with the Salt Palace.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Rev. Mirjam Haas-Melchior, executive presbyter for the Presbytery of Utah, worries that current assurances by the city and developers have more to do with "[easing] their conscience" than ensuring the long-term survival of the faith centers.
She, Ward and Watanabe all raised concerns as well around — final outcome aside — whether the congregations will be able to freely access their buildings throughout any construction.
In response to this concern, an SEG representative said the company is “committed to a construction process that is as efficient as possible, thus minimizing the impact on any surrounding property owners and members of the community who visit the churches.”
United in their cause
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Rev. Jerry Hirano gives a Dharma talk during the service at the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.
Growing up in Rose Park, Trey Imamura said the Buddhist temple, which averages around 60 attendees on any given week, always represented a haven for him, a place he could go and feel welcome.
“It was always gratifying,” the now 30-year-old said, “to have this group that looked like me.”
His sangha and the Church of Christ, which are deeply intertwined, represent both his biological and “chosen family.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Rev. Tipiloma Pupu'a sings during the 100-year anniversary celebration at the Church of Christ.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Rev. Jerry Hirano gives a Dharma talk during the service at the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024.
This unity, Imamura believes, has and will continue to serve the community well as the district project wends through the labyrinthine approval process.
“Older generations are here to really show [younger Japanese Americans] how” to advocate for the community, he said. “We’ve had such great mentors.”
There’s no turning back the clock for Japantown. But, with their elders’ wisdom and the good faith efforts of SEG, Imamura believes the temple and the church could come out of the upheaval not just unscathed but also energized, elevated along with the rest of the neighborhood.
